Undercooked rice and lack of oxygen seem to be the most common causes of souring.
Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different
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Undercooked rice and lack of oxygen seem to be the most common causes of souring.
So I stumbled across this thread, and figured it sounds like something to try.
I found my supplies at the Dragon Star Supermarket, in Brooklyn Park, MN.
I started my first batch last night. I went with ~3 cups of glutonous sweet rice, weighed out at 1.5 pounds. Rinsed the rice with cold water until it was running clear, about 3 minutes. Then put the strainer in a bowl and filled it with cold water to soak the rice for 30 minutes. Rinsed the rice again, and let it drain for 5 minutes before placing into my steamer bowl. You can see the Oster steamer I have in the background. I put 3 cups water on the rice and filled the steam chamber with water also. I turned the steamer on and steamed for 30 minutes. It was cooked well. Still a bit firm in the center.
Took a large cookie sheet and put a big piece of aluminum foil on the cookie sheet, and sprayed it with starsan. I dumped the rice onto the foil and spread it out in an even layer. Covered it with a sheet of muslin that was soaked, and wrung out, of starsan. It covered it perfectly. I then put it on a bakers cooling rack, in the garage. December, Minnesota, 20 degrees outside, perfect.
I let it cool for 30 minutes and prepared 3 yeast balls in my spice coffee ginder. I sprinkled the yeast over the top of the rice. Put on nitrile gloves and sprayed my hands with starsan and grabbed handfuls of the rice and placed it in my glass cookie jar. Then covered the opening with the sanitized muslin cloth and put the lid on the jar. I tucked it into my closet, which is 68 - 70 degrees, and covered it with a black cloth.
Here is what it looked like ......
I found my supplies at the Dragon Star Supermarket, in Brooklyn Park, MN.
I started my first batch last night. I went with ~3 cups of glutonous sweet rice, weighed out at 1.5 pounds. Rinsed the rice with cold water until it was running clear, about 3 minutes. Then put the strainer in a bowl and filled it with cold water to soak the rice for 30 minutes. Rinsed the rice again, and let it drain for 5 minutes before placing into my steamer bowl. You can see the Oster steamer I have in the background. I put 3 cups water on the rice and filled the steam chamber with water also. I turned the steamer on and steamed for 30 minutes. It was cooked well. Still a bit firm in the center.
Took a large cookie sheet and put a big piece of aluminum foil on the cookie sheet, and sprayed it with starsan. I dumped the rice onto the foil and spread it out in an even layer. Covered it with a sheet of muslin that was soaked, and wrung out, of starsan. It covered it perfectly. I then put it on a bakers cooling rack, in the garage. December, Minnesota, 20 degrees outside, perfect.
I let it cool for 30 minutes and prepared 3 yeast balls in my spice coffee ginder. I sprinkled the yeast over the top of the rice. Put on nitrile gloves and sprayed my hands with starsan and grabbed handfuls of the rice and placed it in my glass cookie jar. Then covered the opening with the sanitized muslin cloth and put the lid on the jar. I tucked it into my closet, which is 68 - 70 degrees, and covered it with a black cloth.
Here is what it looked like ......
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Sounds like you did everything perfectly. And, it looks great. Please let us know how it turns out.
I am trying to get through all the posts in this and just thought of something. My steamer has a solid basket in which the water stays in with the rice. I can barely do 3 cups dry rice at one time. I was thinking about using it like the bamboo steamers. Line the largest bowl with a sheet of muslin, then steam the rice.
Here is where my thoughts went sideways. There is no way to keep the water with the rice. So, soak the rice until it expands by 1/3, like Sara stated back in the early days of this thread. Then steam it until it is fully cooked.
I need some suggestions on this.
Thanks
BTW .... I am doing a new batch, tonight, with Thai Jasmine Rice. Damn !!!! This stuff expanded like crazy. Ir was almost 1/2 inch above the top edge of the steamer bowl. Gonna put the yeast balls into it while it is a little warmer than the last batch. I pulled out the infrared thermometer to keep a better "eye" on the temp. Nothing special, yet. Just the base recipe for rice wine.
Here is where my thoughts went sideways. There is no way to keep the water with the rice. So, soak the rice until it expands by 1/3, like Sara stated back in the early days of this thread. Then steam it until it is fully cooked.
I need some suggestions on this.
Thanks
BTW .... I am doing a new batch, tonight, with Thai Jasmine Rice. Damn !!!! This stuff expanded like crazy. Ir was almost 1/2 inch above the top edge of the steamer bowl. Gonna put the yeast balls into it while it is a little warmer than the last batch. I pulled out the infrared thermometer to keep a better "eye" on the temp. Nothing special, yet. Just the base recipe for rice wine.
Keep reading the thread. You can also just cook the rice in a rice cooker and end up with good rice wine with much less work. You'll see more posts of mine that advocate simplicity.
My current process- cook 8 rice cooker cups of rice without rinsing in rice cooker with appropriate amount of water to cover. Cool over about 8 hours per batch in the rice cooker pot. When cool, turn upside down and dump into 5 gallon plastic bucket with at least 2 crushed yeast balls per batch. Usually 5-6 batches of rice per 5 gallon bucket batch. After about 1 week I sometimes mix the entire mixture up to ensure more uniformity and to avoid big rice-pot shaped chunks of rice. Ferment 6 weeks with lid sitting on top of bucket. Then, pour into paint strainer bag lined colander over a 2-4 gallon pot and allow to gravity drain a day before squeezing out. Over the next 1-2 weeks I let it settle in 2 liter plastic pop bottles before pouring off of the cloudy/solids and drinking.
Ghetto, but it works well and is easy.
My current process- cook 8 rice cooker cups of rice without rinsing in rice cooker with appropriate amount of water to cover. Cool over about 8 hours per batch in the rice cooker pot. When cool, turn upside down and dump into 5 gallon plastic bucket with at least 2 crushed yeast balls per batch. Usually 5-6 batches of rice per 5 gallon bucket batch. After about 1 week I sometimes mix the entire mixture up to ensure more uniformity and to avoid big rice-pot shaped chunks of rice. Ferment 6 weeks with lid sitting on top of bucket. Then, pour into paint strainer bag lined colander over a 2-4 gallon pot and allow to gravity drain a day before squeezing out. Over the next 1-2 weeks I let it settle in 2 liter plastic pop bottles before pouring off of the cloudy/solids and drinking.
Ghetto, but it works well and is easy.
Does anyone here know if there is an online source for red yeast rice (RYR)? All I’ve found so far are supplement pills and the like.
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
I just harvested my second ever batch, and it's not sour!
My first batch was a split batch into 5 mason jars. After reading that no additional water creates a very sweet wine (because the yeast are only so alcohol tolerant), I decided so see what different ratios of additional water would do. I added 1/2 cup cooked japanese short grain rice (cooked 1:1 water by volume) to five jars. A few days later, once fermentation kicked off, I added 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 cup water to each of the respective jars. 3 weeks later, I tasted to see which ratio I preferred, trying to find the point where the wine was just a little sweet but not tasting watered down. Unfortunately, this batch soured, but the tasting still gave me some good results. From this I decided that somewhere between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup water was the best balance. No water was too sweet, 3/4 and 1 cup were too dry. And especially with the sourness they tasted more like a white wine, which I wasn't crazy about. It would be interesting to try to get a non sour batch with 3/4 cup added to see how it turns out.
Flash forward several months, this time I cooked short grain sweet rice in a rice cooker, which did an excellent job. The grains were still pretty separate but tender, and it saved me the trouble of steaming. I cooked a double batch of 4.5 cups (about 1 kg of dry rice + 1.2 kg water, total) following the rice cooker instructions. I threw the rice into a Mr. Beer fermenter, waited for it to cool, and pitched 3 ground up yeast balls (my rice balls come 3 to a pack). 3 days later I added an additional 1.5 cups water once I smelled some CO2 happening. 7 days after pitching I added another 1.5 cups water. The idea was to keep the sugar level consistent and not dilute it all at once. The fermentor was in my garage, which cycles from 50 at night to 70 in the morning. 2 weeks into fermentation I pulled it inside because the temp dropped to the mid 30s. Today I harvested, just short of 3 weeks, and man this stuff is great! Much, much better than the soured batch, I'm glad I gave it another try. Finishes with the pleasant sake flavor I was looking for. The yield was about 80 oz. Next time I may try a little more water, because it's still slightly sweet, but otherwise everything went great. Thanks everyone for knowledge in this thread!
My first batch was a split batch into 5 mason jars. After reading that no additional water creates a very sweet wine (because the yeast are only so alcohol tolerant), I decided so see what different ratios of additional water would do. I added 1/2 cup cooked japanese short grain rice (cooked 1:1 water by volume) to five jars. A few days later, once fermentation kicked off, I added 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 cup water to each of the respective jars. 3 weeks later, I tasted to see which ratio I preferred, trying to find the point where the wine was just a little sweet but not tasting watered down. Unfortunately, this batch soured, but the tasting still gave me some good results. From this I decided that somewhere between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup water was the best balance. No water was too sweet, 3/4 and 1 cup were too dry. And especially with the sourness they tasted more like a white wine, which I wasn't crazy about. It would be interesting to try to get a non sour batch with 3/4 cup added to see how it turns out.
Flash forward several months, this time I cooked short grain sweet rice in a rice cooker, which did an excellent job. The grains were still pretty separate but tender, and it saved me the trouble of steaming. I cooked a double batch of 4.5 cups (about 1 kg of dry rice + 1.2 kg water, total) following the rice cooker instructions. I threw the rice into a Mr. Beer fermenter, waited for it to cool, and pitched 3 ground up yeast balls (my rice balls come 3 to a pack). 3 days later I added an additional 1.5 cups water once I smelled some CO2 happening. 7 days after pitching I added another 1.5 cups water. The idea was to keep the sugar level consistent and not dilute it all at once. The fermentor was in my garage, which cycles from 50 at night to 70 in the morning. 2 weeks into fermentation I pulled it inside because the temp dropped to the mid 30s. Today I harvested, just short of 3 weeks, and man this stuff is great! Much, much better than the soured batch, I'm glad I gave it another try. Finishes with the pleasant sake flavor I was looking for. The yield was about 80 oz. Next time I may try a little more water, because it's still slightly sweet, but otherwise everything went great. Thanks everyone for knowledge in this thread!
I was just checking out what Amazon might have for supplies to make rice wine with. I have been unable to find red rice yeast or ARL in the Minneapolis area.
Has anyone used any of the Koji Rice, or sake Koji starter ?
Has anyone used any of the Koji Rice, or sake Koji starter ?
Thanks for the reply.
I just ordered some ARL and RYR off Ebay.
I just ordered some ARL and RYR off Ebay.
Update on my rice wine so far .....
Here is my sweet rice at one week.
Here is the mold growing on top.
Here is that same sweet rice at 2 weeks. I wasn't thinking and shook it up before the picture.
I found several different yeast balls around the area. So I am doing the next two batches with the small
Vietnamese balls in the blue package. Here is 4 cups dry sweet rice.
I also started a glutinous Thai rice batch with the VN blue yeast balls.
Looking for any taste differences between the different rices and different yeasts.
Once I receive the ARL and RYR, I will try some more batches. Time to hit Costco for a large bag of rice.
Here is my sweet rice at one week.
Here is the mold growing on top.
Here is that same sweet rice at 2 weeks. I wasn't thinking and shook it up before the picture.
I found several different yeast balls around the area. So I am doing the next two batches with the small
Vietnamese balls in the blue package. Here is 4 cups dry sweet rice.
I also started a glutinous Thai rice batch with the VN blue yeast balls.
Looking for any taste differences between the different rices and different yeasts.
Once I receive the ARL and RYR, I will try some more batches. Time to hit Costco for a large bag of rice.
Darthbrewder
Well-Known Member
Darthbrewder
Well-Known Member
Oops, forgot to type my reply.
I wouldn’t trust anything other than white fuzzy mold.
Do you have a link to these?
Here was the RYR I bought.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Yeast-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
This was the ARL I bought.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Angel-Rice...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Hope this helps.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Yeast-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
This was the ARL I bought.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Angel-Rice...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Hope this helps.
Thanks, it sure does! I bow to google search prowess!
radhe riku
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Hi guys I m new here I m from near China boundaries but in india. Thing is that we too make rice ale, wine or whatever it is. I just wanna suggest you not to throw away the left fermented rice u can make vodka like thing
So I bottled my first two batches of rice wine. The first was glutinous sweet rice with Chinese yeast balls. I let it go for 27 days, as it was fermented about 65 - 68 degrees. It smelled wonderful. Straining / filtering is not fun. I initially separated the rice must out with a piece of voile. I tried filtering the wine with a piece of muslin cloth. Nope, not good. It is pretty much like using a coffee filter. So I cleaned and sanitized the voile and folded the sheet so it was about 9 layers and put it in a funnel. This worked pretty good. I will have to get another piece and get it folded into more layers.
The second batch was Thai Jasmine rice and the same Chinese yeast balls as batch #1. I started with about 3 cups dry rice, in each batch, and steamed it with a 1:1 water ratio. This was just a bit low, as the rice didn't all completely cook. But not bad for the first try. I ended up with a little more than 750ml of rice wine in each batch. I actually got more from the Jasmine rice.
The sweet rice wine had a different taste to it, and it is kind of hard to describe. Lots of alcohol, but not a flavor I prefer. The Jasmine rice wine is wonderful. Slightly sweet and a pineappley fruitiness in the flavor. I forgot to take a picture of the bottles, but I will see what they look like after a day in the fridge.
The second batch was Thai Jasmine rice and the same Chinese yeast balls as batch #1. I started with about 3 cups dry rice, in each batch, and steamed it with a 1:1 water ratio. This was just a bit low, as the rice didn't all completely cook. But not bad for the first try. I ended up with a little more than 750ml of rice wine in each batch. I actually got more from the Jasmine rice.
The sweet rice wine had a different taste to it, and it is kind of hard to describe. Lots of alcohol, but not a flavor I prefer. The Jasmine rice wine is wonderful. Slightly sweet and a pineappley fruitiness in the flavor. I forgot to take a picture of the bottles, but I will see what they look like after a day in the fridge.
So I re-visited my finished rice wines. The clear sweet rice wine reminds me more of a normal saki. Not bad tasting, but I have not had many to make an informed decision as to what type I might like.
The clear Jasmine rice wine is delicious, slightly sweet and fruity. This is just as good clear or mixed with the solids. IMO
This was after 24 hours in the fridge.
Now to wait until the next two batches finish. Same rice but with the blue pack of VN yeast balls.
The clear Jasmine rice wine is delicious, slightly sweet and fruity. This is just as good clear or mixed with the solids. IMO
This was after 24 hours in the fridge.
Now to wait until the next two batches finish. Same rice but with the blue pack of VN yeast balls.
So I discovered that steaming my rice created another issue. There was not enough moisture in the rice to make it sticky. My last two batches finished, and are very good, but I only got about 16 ounces of wine. Unlike the first batches where I got at least a 750ml bottle from each 4 cups dry rice, after 30 days.
I have started four other batches now that I have RYR and ARL. I went 5 cups dry Jasmine rice, soaked overnight (12 hours), steamed for an hour, cooled for an hour. I used 1/4 cup RYR and ground that with the yeast balls and ARL. I noticed that is seemed very dry, even though the rice was steamed perfectly. So I added a 16 ounce bottle of spring water to each batch.
So here is the rundown on each batch .....
#1 - 5 cups Jasmine rice, 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, two Hang Tai yeast balls, 16 oz. water.
#2 - 5 cups Jasmine rice, 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, two Hang Hing yeast balls, 16 oz. water.
#3 - 5 cups Jasmine rice, 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, two large VN yeast balls, 16 oz. water.
#4 - 5 cups Jasmine rice. 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, 10 small VN yeast balls (blue pack), 16 oz. water.
I just checked them yesterday. They have a nice liquid level and a thin layer of white mold all across the top of the rice. Two more weeks to go.
I have started four other batches now that I have RYR and ARL. I went 5 cups dry Jasmine rice, soaked overnight (12 hours), steamed for an hour, cooled for an hour. I used 1/4 cup RYR and ground that with the yeast balls and ARL. I noticed that is seemed very dry, even though the rice was steamed perfectly. So I added a 16 ounce bottle of spring water to each batch.
So here is the rundown on each batch .....
#1 - 5 cups Jasmine rice, 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, two Hang Tai yeast balls, 16 oz. water.
#2 - 5 cups Jasmine rice, 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, two Hang Hing yeast balls, 16 oz. water.
#3 - 5 cups Jasmine rice, 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, two large VN yeast balls, 16 oz. water.
#4 - 5 cups Jasmine rice. 1/4 cup RYR, 1/2 pack ARL, 10 small VN yeast balls (blue pack), 16 oz. water.
I just checked them yesterday. They have a nice liquid level and a thin layer of white mold all across the top of the rice. Two more weeks to go.
JoshMcMadMac
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How do you do that?
Living in China and being married to a Chinese woman, I cook rice several times a week. To spice things up, I often toss in smallish amounts of other things - quinoa, buckwheat, millet, that sort of thing. In fact, diced sweet potato (or purple sweet potato) is another common rice addition I've encountered a lot, though not done myself.
It makes me think. How well would it work to make a batch of this stuff with other grains mixed in? I've made several batches over the years, as well as the breakfast porridge version of 米酒, but I've never tried mixing in other grains. Judging by how much better a bit of millet and quinoa make a bowl of white rice or rice porridge, I'm wondering if they'd give the same kind of boost to a batch of rice wine.
A random thought to add before I finish: we recently got a bag of Thai jasmine rice and it requires about 30% more water than our usual rice to cook to the same softness. Things like that should probably be taken into account when making batches with various types of rice.
It makes me think. How well would it work to make a batch of this stuff with other grains mixed in? I've made several batches over the years, as well as the breakfast porridge version of 米酒, but I've never tried mixing in other grains. Judging by how much better a bit of millet and quinoa make a bowl of white rice or rice porridge, I'm wondering if they'd give the same kind of boost to a batch of rice wine.
A random thought to add before I finish: we recently got a bag of Thai jasmine rice and it requires about 30% more water than our usual rice to cook to the same softness. Things like that should probably be taken into account when making batches with various types of rice.
Elijah Hutchinson
Member
I just tried this recipe about 2 months ago. It turns out really bitter at first so you have to rack it a couple of times and let it clarify for a few weeks. Small batch yield for the crazy amount of rice it takes. You're right about the kick though. Mine turned out like rice liquor.
Bitter?
I'm generally getting 1 cup (cloudy) rice wine for each cup of uncooked rice. So, rice cooker batch with 8 cups of rice yields about 2L cloudy rice wine. What was your yield?
You can generally expect 15-19% alcohol, Elijah. Yours was higher?
I'm generally getting 1 cup (cloudy) rice wine for each cup of uncooked rice. So, rice cooker batch with 8 cups of rice yields about 2L cloudy rice wine. What was your yield?
You can generally expect 15-19% alcohol, Elijah. Yours was higher?
ethics_gradient
Member
Last batch I did with yeast balls came out smelling kinda bad (no weird mould on the rice or anything though)... it was like taking the yeast balls smell and amping it up. I don't remember previous yeast ball batches smelling like that, wound up tipping it down the drain and stinking up the kitchen for a good hour or so.
I finally bit the bullet and picked up a secondhand rice cooker for $20 today - too many issues with inconsistency cooking the sticky rice on the stovetop, and not fun to babysit.
I did 2 cups of Thai glutinous rice to 2.5 of water that I let it soak in for 4 hours, and then flicked the cooker on. The resulting rice wasn't bad (have definitely done worse on the stovetop!) but a little too soft and gelatinous to actually want to serve as proper sticky rice. Hoping it'll make good wine, if not... what are suggestions to adjust for next time? Less water, rinse first until water runs clearish, or a shorter soak? Definitely sold on the rice cooker for doing wine as far as ease and simplicity, and that's as a life-long advocate of doing the brown stuff on the stove.
Also, is the date on ARL packaging the manufactured on date, or best by date? I still had plenty from last year chilling in the back of my fridge, noticed it was dated January 2017.
I finally bit the bullet and picked up a secondhand rice cooker for $20 today - too many issues with inconsistency cooking the sticky rice on the stovetop, and not fun to babysit.
I did 2 cups of Thai glutinous rice to 2.5 of water that I let it soak in for 4 hours, and then flicked the cooker on. The resulting rice wasn't bad (have definitely done worse on the stovetop!) but a little too soft and gelatinous to actually want to serve as proper sticky rice. Hoping it'll make good wine, if not... what are suggestions to adjust for next time? Less water, rinse first until water runs clearish, or a shorter soak? Definitely sold on the rice cooker for doing wine as far as ease and simplicity, and that's as a life-long advocate of doing the brown stuff on the stove.
Also, is the date on ARL packaging the manufactured on date, or best by date? I still had plenty from last year chilling in the back of my fridge, noticed it was dated January 2017.
Stuff is pretty much always dated by manufacture date here in China, though I'd have to see the package to tell you for sure.
I always soak my Jasmin rice overnight, then rinse till clear water come through. Steam, cool then mix powdered yeast bell in. Never had a bad batch yet. Finishes nice and sweet.
Side question: anybody else have it carbonate in the bottle? I've had 2 batches, that we're harvested at 29 days, carbonate. It was a somewhat pleasant surprise.
Side question: anybody else have it carbonate in the bottle? I've had 2 batches, that we're harvested at 29 days, carbonate. It was a somewhat pleasant surprise.
ethics_gradient
Member
Ah, that's good to know. It's a standard ARL package, I bought it on eBay from China.
I got a really nice pair of batches from Thai glutinous rice so I went out and bought a 25kg sack of it, so I'm sorta stuck with that for the near future!
I will try 4 hour soak + rinse on a batch and see how that goes.
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